Telegram Congratulating Togliatti on His Sixtieth Birthday
(March 25, 1953)
Dear Comrade Togliatti, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Italian Communist Party:

On the occasion of your sixtieth birthday, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and I personally extend to you and to the Central Committee of the Italian Communist Party our warmest congratulations.

Since your youth, you have dedicated your entire life to the cause of the emancipation of the Italian working people. Through your heroic struggle and outstanding leadership, the Italian Communist Party has become the glorious standard of the Italian working class, a formidable political force in Italy, and one of the great bastions of Marxism-Leninism in the world. Your brilliant contributions to the Italian revolutionary cause, the international workers' movement, and the world peace movement have earned you the esteem and affection not only of the Italian people, but also of the people of China and the whole world.

For the victory of the cause of liberating Italy from the oppression of U.S. imperialism and its lackeys, and for the victory of the cause of world peace and progress headed by the Soviet Union, I wish you health and long life!

Mao Zedong
Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
March 25, 1953